Boeing’s Giant Flying Tadpole Makes First Taxi Runs

So uh, yeah. That awkward-looking thing is Boeing’s Phantom Eye high-altitude UAV design doing a 30-knot taxi test at Edwards Air Force Base on March 10. Usually, we bring you clips and pictures of stealthy, jet-powered drones designed to penetrate enemy airspace and drop bombs taking to the skies for the first time at Edwards. Well, like the Phantom Ray and X-47B , Phantom Eye does represent the future of drones — just the not-as-sexy-to-look-at future of drones. The hydrogen-powered beast — it’s damn big for a drone, with a 150-foot wingspan — is designed to stay aloft for four days carrying a 450-pound payload at altitudes of up to 65,000-feet. Phantom Eye and other so called, high-altitude long-enduarance (HALE) UAVs are equally important to the future of unmanned planes as the stealthy new fighter and attack style jets being developed. HALE drones will be able to carr...